Changes to Lusk Pass and area trails

Logging in the Lusk Creek area has finished and we can finally get on the trails.

Baldy Pass trail north takes the same line as before. Initially a new trail was going to be built to the east of the logging roads, but instead the lower portion of the Old Mill Road has been reopened. Only the middle section of the trail is on a new wide logging road overlying the Old Mill Road. Signage is already up.

The Lusk Pass Trail is a different story. The first 2.7 km is no longer feasible. It runs at the bottom of cutblocks and has trees toppled all over it. So now you have to follow Baldy Pass trail north to the “lower cutoff,” as it used to be called, and follow it down to Lusk Pass Trail just 400 m short of Lusk Creek crossing. Again, the changes are well signposted. The only problem is that going this route adds on another 2.8 km and extra height gain/loss. That’s OK for people riding bikes and horses, but not so good for people on foot. The unofficial shortcut, shown on the map, cuts the extra distance down to 1.7 km. The shortcut logging road used to intersect the “lower cutoff,” but now you have to walk across a rehabilitated flat area to get to it. Not too bad. At least it’s not strewn with unwanted trees like some areas are. Of course, there is a chance the rest of the shortcut road will disappear at some future date.

The old Lusk Creek Trail has significant deadfall.

Conditions? Some mud and snow on the trails still, with lots of snow higher up at Baldy Pass. Trees across the Lusk Pass Trail need to be cleared.